Aston Villa’s first season in the Championship for 30 years did not go to plan for the Midlands outfit, finishing in the bottom half of the table. Under the ownership of Tony Xia, the Villans invested heavily in the transfer market, turning over the squad that was relegated from the Premier League with a pitiful haul of 17 points in the previous campaign.

Despite an outlay of over £80m, the club were unable to even threaten an immediate return to the top flight. Roberto Di Matteo lasted only two months as manager before he was replaced by former Birmingham boss Steve Bruce following their club’s dreadful start.

Aston Villa are said to be leading the race to sign former England international John Terry.

The 36-year-old is available on a Bosman this summer following his decision to decline a fresh contract at Chelsea. Terry was aware that his opportunities would be restricted until Antonio Conte, and he eventually decided to end his 22-year association in west London in order to pursue a fresh challenge elsewhere.

Aston Villa is a club that used to compete in the Premier League for various seasons including: 2013-14 until their campaign of 2015-16 which is when they were relegated after finishing at the bottom of that season at the 20th spot with only 17 points collected.

Steve Bruce wants to get Aston Villa back into the Premier League but in order for this to happen, they might have to sign a number of new playersand with the summer transfer window less than 1 month away from opening, this is Steve Bruce´s chance to start acquiring new talent to his squad and get promoted back to the English Premier League.

Aston Villahave been one of the best teams in the Championship over the last few weeks.

After having struggled for form early on in the campaign, manager Steve Bruce has been able to get the players functioning as expected. The club has been able to make significant inroads into the top half of the table. Even though they are now closer towards the championship top 10 than ever before, it may not result in promotion back to the Premier league. The club are several points behind Sheffield Wednesday, who occupy the final play-off spot. As a result, manager Steve Bruce is targeting promotion for the club next season.

Just a few weeks after Steve Bruce admitted that Aston Villa may have to give up on the promotion hopes, the club have been able to dramatically rise up the table.

A run of four wins in the last five games has seen Villa move to 12th in the table. The prospect of finishing in the top six, which gives access to the play-offs, has been immensely boosted as a result of this run. Manager Steve Bruce, though, is expecting even more from his players, as he says that the club can improve even further. The 1-0 win over Derby County towards the end of February brought an end to a winless run that had stretched to nine league games.